Death by Obsession (8 page)

Mattheus looked totally confused. “Why?”

“She’s your daughter, Mattheus, part of your flesh
and blood. You don’t just throw a daughter away.”

Despite Mattheus’s concern about Cindy going on the
trip, Cindy went into the bathroom and changed quickly into a lovely, paisley
linen dress. Then she brushed her hair long and hard, freshened her makeup and
got ready to go downstairs.

“We’re not on the case anymore,” Mattheus knocked on
the bathroom door as Cindy prepared. “It’s not our business. Your trip with
Tara could be tricky. She’s not well.”

“It will be fine,” Cindy called back through the shut
door. “Tara needs some support.”

“We all need something,” Mattheus called back. “I
need support, too. I need for us to sit down and talk about my daughter.”

“We will,” said Cindy, “later. Right now I want to go
with Tara. She’ll be here in a few minutes.”

“I’m going on record right now that this is a bad
idea,” “Mattheus barked back.

“Okay, you’re on record,” Cindy opened the door, came
out and walked past him.

“You look ravishing,” Mattheus said then, taken by
surprise.

Cindy felt her heart clench. She desperately wanted
to turn around, hold him, assuage his fears, tell him how much she loved him.
But she held back. It would never work to pretend that he hadn’t kept a huge
piece of his life from her. There had to be ripple effects of his having a
daughter that neither of them could barely foresee.  Cindy had no idea what this
news boded for a life together for the two of them.

Cindy took a small summer bag and flung it over her
shoulder as she walked to the door.

“So, are you going to try to convince Tara to forget
the wedding?”  Mattheus followed closely behind her.

“I have no plans to convince her of anything at all,”
Cindy turned and met Mattheus’s eyes.  “This is her choice. I’ll just be at her
side as she makes it.”

“That’s easier said than done,” Mattheus remarked. “She’s
pulling you into a crazy world of her own making. Why is she so obsessed with
Lynch’s son? Frankly, it’s unnerving.”

Cindy felt on edge. “Listen, Tara’s father hired us to
do a job and Tara’s life has been turned upside down because of what we dug up.
It doesn’t feel right to wash our hands of it just because Aldon said good bye.
If Tara’s called for help, then he needs us.”

“Tara doesn’t need
us
, she needs
you
,” Mattheus
corrected her.

“Be that as it may,” said Cindy, “when it comes to
working together, there’s no me and you. There’s just us.” Then she shook her
long hair over her shoulders and walked to the door.

 “You look beautiful, Cindy,” Mattheus remarked
softly.

Cindy couldn’t help smiling for a second. “Thanks,”
she said, “I like that. Flattery will get you everywhere.”

*

As soon as Cindy got down to the front of the hotel, a
long, black car pulled up with Tara seated in the back. The minute she saw
Cindy she rolled down the window, leaned out and beckoned her in. Cindy quickly
slipped in, and the car rolled away.

“I can’t thank you enough for this,” Tara gave Cindy
a quick hug. Her eyes looked dazed and her face drawn. Obviously this had taken
a terrible toll.  “I kept wondering what to do,” Tara rambled, “I couldn’t tell
anybody where I was going and I didn’t want to go alone. Then you came to my
mind.”

“I’m glad you called,” said Cindy, really meaning it.
Tara shouldn’t be alone right now with this information and all the changes it brought
to her life.

“My wedding is supposed to be the most wonderful time
of my life,” Tara spoke fitfully, “and it’s turned into the worst.  I’ve never
felt so much pressure in my life – from everybody. Seems like nobody cares about
how I truly feel, only about the wedding. Lynch’s mother refuses to believe
anything is wrong. She’s acting like everything’s normal, making toasts with
her friends to the happy couple.”

“Not good,” Cindy commented, “no one wants to get
married under the gun.”

Tara flung her head back suddenly and looked
relieved. “It’s great to hear you say that. I even said that to Lynch. I said
let’s run away and spend time with your son. We have to get to know him, he has
to become part of our lives. We can’t get married otherwise. Once we all work
it out, then we can have a small, quiet wedding somewhere else.”

Cindy was startled by the strange plan. “How did
Lynch react to that?” she asked.

“He didn’t,” Tara grew quiet, “he’s been numb and
silent, unwilling to say anything more about it to me. I guess he thinks if he
pretends it isn’t happening long enough, it will all go away. I’m sure he’s also
scared to death about how his mother is taking it. Lynch does whatever he can
to make her happy. But, yesterday I told him a man whose life is run by his
mother is not the man for me. I said these decisions are up to us, they don’t affect
your mother.”

“But, of course they  affect his mother,” said Cindy.
“The two of them seemed joined at the hip.”

Tara took exception to that. “After Lynch’s father
died, his mother asked him to take over the business. He works with his mother
side by side. What’s so bad about that?”

“Nothing,” said Cindy. “It can be a wonderful
arrangement at times.”

“That was one of the things that drew me to Lynch,”
Tara went on, relieved to be talking about it. “He cares so much about his
mother, is such a great son. When he told his mother that I was so happy they
were close, she decided I was the perfect wife for him. Since then she’s been
doing everything she can to help us along. Everything! She’s paying for this
entire wedding herself.”

Cindy realized in a flash that Raina had become the
mother to Tara that she’d just lost.

“Raina’s not a bad person,” Tara insisted, “even
though she was rude to me the other day and can be bossy.”

“I guess she was just shocked to see her grandson,”
said Cindy.

“Must have been that,” Tara agreed.

Cindy saw how hard to would be for Tara to bail out
of the wedding. It was not only Lynch, but also Raina that she’d been letting
down.

The car drove steadily along and Cindy looked out of
the window as they were leaving the main part of town. They drove down a hill
into a winding road that seemed to be leading through a valley.  As they made
their way the dim light left of the day shone over all kinds of flora and fauna
and made it seem as though they were all surrounded by a strange, misty, glow.

           “Where exactly are we headed?” Cindy asked,
feeling a bit disoriented.

“To the village where Bala lives with her son,” said Tara.
“It’s a small fishing village in St. Marteen, on the Dutch side of the island.
The boy was raised here, it’s his home. He comes from a completely different
world than we do. It will take time for him to acclimate.”

Cindy was confused. What was Tara thinking of? It
became clear in that moment how fixated she was on the boy. Cindy had a sudden,
frightening thought that Tara might want to grab him away and keep him for
herself.

 “What will Paulie have to acclimate to?” Cindy asked
cautiously.

“To a new life,” Tara murmured. “He’s going to have a
lot to get accustomed to.”

Cindy still didn’t know what Tara had in mind. “You’re
overly involved with the boy,” Cindy said plainly, glad she was along on the
trip.

“Not at all,” said Tara.

“Over involvement can lead to obsession,” Cindy
continued, unwilling to let it go. “Sometimes we build fantasies about someone
that have nothing to do with what’s possible. This boy does not belong to you.”

Tara shivered suddenly. “Okay, so maybe I am over
involved,” she replied in a hushed tone. “But I lost a brother and never got
him back. My mother’s first child died in childbirth.”

My God, that’s it, thought Cindy, Paulie is reminding
her of her lost brother.

“All my life my mother told me how wonderful it was
that I was born and replaced him. She never knew how much it hurt me when she
said that.”

“I’m sorry, Tara,” she remarked.  “No one person can
replace another.”

“You can say that again,” said Tara. “And now my
wedding is coming and both my mother and brother are gone.  Doesn’t Lynch
realize how lucky he is to have a living child? How can he just forget about
him?”

The car made a swift sharp turn then, jostling both
of them unexpectedly, and turning onto a dirt road that was barely paved.

“I’m excited to see Paulie again,” Tara whispered to
Cindy, “very excited.”

Mattheus was right, Cindy thought, there was
something wrong with Tara, she was definitely obsessed.

“Does Bala know you’re coming?” asked Cindy, nervously.
She didn’t know how this could turn out well.

“Yes, I called and told them to expect me,” Tara
replied victoriously.

*

The car drove a small distance further, through some
bushes and then pulled up to a little wooden house, with a handmade fence in
front of it. The driver parked and Tara told him they’d been back in a little
while.  He nodded and turned on the radio while Tara flung the car door open and
jumped out. Cindy followed close behind, not knowing what to expect.

As Cindy walked up to the house with Tara she saw a
few large dogs roaming untended, and a cluster of birds perched on the fence.
This part of the island was indeed more wild and primitive.

Tara got to the door and knocked on it loudly. In a
moment it opened and Bala stood there, her large eyes looking confused and afraid.

“This is my friend Cindy,” Tara introduced her right
away.

Bala looked over at Cindy, perplexed and nodded. “Come
in,” she said softly.

They walked into a small, colorful, unpretentious,
pretty and clean, living room. The open

windows let in fragrant breezes and Cindy could smell
something delicious baking in the kitchen.

“This is our home,” Bala said simply, as if she were
being inspected.

“It’s lovely,” said Tara, meaning it. There were
handmade patchwork cushions on the furniture and a beautiful, hand woven rug on
the wooden floor.

Bala looked over at Tara sadly. Despite the strange
circumstances there seemed to be a sense of familiarity between them. “Why are
you here before your wedding?” Bala asked directly. “What do you want?”

Not such a simple question to answer, Tara closed her
eyes for a long moment.

Bala turned to Cindy inquisitively. “None of us know
why Tara is visiting,” she said in a beautiful, lilting island tone. “My
relationship with Lynch ended a long time ago. I hardly ever think of him.”

“I think Tara’s realizes that,” said Cindy.

“I’m not worried about your relationship with Lynch,”
Tara opened her eyes suddenly.

“My brother Dawl is with us here now, too,” Bala
continued. “He’s in the back with Paulie.”

That put Tara on edge. “There’s no reason for your brother
to be here,” she quickly protested.

“Of course there is,” Bala insisted. “Dawl helps me
with Paulie all the time, we take care of him together. Dawl has been a father
to Paulie since he was born, and Paulie can’t live without him.”

 “Awful,” Tara gasped.

Bala’s eyes flashed opened with fire. “What’s awful
about it?  A boy needs a father figure.”

“He needs his real father,” Tara exclaimed.

“Dawl’s even better than a real father,” Bala was
filled with sudden anxiety.

Just then the other door to the room opened, and a
large, rugged, West Indian man stepped into the living room. He was dressed in
overalls, T shirt and kerchief around his neck.

“This is my brother Dawl,” Bala started.

Dawl raised his large hand over his face, wiping away
the perspiration and took another step in, filling the room with his powerful
presence. “No need to introduce us,” he said in a thick accent, looking at Tara
intensely. “Exactly what brings you to our home?”  

“I want to see Paulie again,” Tara started.

“Oh yeah,” Dawl muttered, “Why? Who sent you?” He
aimed his menacing energy directly at her.

“No one sent me,” Tara tried to stand up to him and
couldn’t so well. “I want to see the boy who will be my stepson soon.”

“That’s a laugh,”Dawl shook his head.  “All this time
no one there cared a fig about my boy and now he’s suddenly your “stepson”?
Doesn’t make sense to me. Not a whit.”

“It’s true though,” Tara’s voice trembled, “he’s
going to be my stepson.”

Dawl seemed momentarily threatened. “Who the hell
said he needs a stepmom? He’s got a real mom and real dad right here, too.”

“He has an uncle,” Tara tried to correct him, as he
took two heavy steps closer.

“An uncle who’s more of a father to him than most
dads you’ll ever know,” Dawl grumbled.

Clearly Dawl loved the boy and wanted no
interference. “What the hell you get out of messing with my boy?” he went on,
sneering at Tara. “You can’t have your own kids, or something?”

Tara flushed bright red. “It’s not that,” she
whispered.

“And, guess what? I don’t even care what it is,” Dawl
answered roughly. “Someone put you up to this, someone wants to take my boy
from me.  I smell money here, but it ain’t happening.  You’re getting the kid over
my dead body.”

Tara’s eyes filled with tears.

Dawl clearly had the upper hand and he knew it. “Guess
what? You don’t get to see Paulie again, not now, not ever,” he said, his teeth
clamping down shut.

Tremendously flustered, Tara recoiled.  “What do you
have against me?” she muttered.

Dawl grinned broadly, opening his mouth.  “What do I
have against you? Nothing. Honey, you don’t even register in my world.  Okay, I
had it. Bala, show both of these ladies out the door. Visit’s over. They’re not
welcome here.”

*

Once back outside, Tara and Cindy
walked slowly to the car.

“He threw us out,” Tara said in
amazement, trying to take it all in. “How dare he? Who does he think he is?”